DoD News

News Article

Rostker Nominated to Assistant Secretariat

WASHINGTON, April 13, 1998  Bernard Rostker, head of DoD's Gulf War illness office, was nominated by President Clinton April 2 to be assistant secretary of defense for force management policy.

Rostker has been the secretary's special assistant for the department's Gulf War illness probe since November 1996. In that role, he has coordinated all activities related to DoD inquiries into the nature and causes of Gulf War illnesses. He also has been assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs since Oct. 7, 1994.

The assistant secretariat is in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. Rostker would be responsible for developing policies, plans and programs for virtually all aspects of military and DoD civilian personnel management, including recruitment, education, equal opportunity and career development. Frank Rush has been acting assistant secretary since the departure last year of Frederick Pang.Rostker received a bachelor of science degree in economics and education from New York University in 1964. He also holds a master's degree and doctorate in economics from Syracuse University.He began his professional career in 1968 as an economist in the Manpower Requirements Directorate in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Analysis. Since then, he has held numerous positions of increasing responsibility in and out of DoD, including three different stints with the Rand Corp., where he directed a personnel studies program sponsored by the Air Force, helped established an Army studies and analysis center, and directed the Defense Manpower Research Center in Rand's National Defense Research Center.A past director of the Selective Service System, Rostker formulated the revitalization plan and supervised the first mass Selective Service registration since World War II.